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I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and with this blog, I finally can. We’re going to decide history’s greatest Western artist since 1400, using the time-tested structure of the NCAA basketball tournament brackets. The field will consist of 64 artists, broken into four historical eras: Renaissance (1400 and 1500s), Baroque (1600 and 1700s), 19th Century and Modern. Seedings are determined by me. I’d love to get enough people to vote on the “games” to determine the results, but we’ll see. I’ll publish the seedings, with an iconic work by each artist, this week, then we’ll start the match ups next week.
Today, we’ll start with the Renaissance bracket:
1, Michelangelo (1475-1564)
2, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
3, Raphael (1483 – 1520)
No surprises in the first three seeds; the only debate is probably the order. I went with Michelangelo because of his versatility and longevity. If this contest was to determine history’s greatest creator, Da Vinci would probably be the No. 1 seed. If Raphael lived longer, he might have moved up. (According to Vasari, Raphael succumbed at 37 after he “continued to divert himself beyond measure with the pleasures of love” and died from too much sex.)
4, Albrecht Durer (1471 – 1528)
Durer is the first non-Italian in the bracket. Prolific and accomplished, Durer’s wood cuts were widely reproduced in his lifetime, making him an early art star.
5, Titian 1488/90 – 1576
Leader of the Venetian school, master of color and light. Titian’s birth date is unknown, which led to a public spat between British politicians David Cameron and Gordon Brown over his age at death.
6, Sandro Botticelli 1445 – 1510
7, Hieronymous Bosch (c 1450 – 1516)
500 years later, Bosch’s work is still creepy as hell.
8, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525 – 1569)
Maybe the greatest painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maybe the greatest Old Master painting in North America.
9, Andrea Mantegna (1431 – 1506)
10, Jan Van Eyck (c. 1390 – c. 1441)
11, Veronese (1528 – 1588)
12, Hans Holbein the Younger (1497- 1543)
13, Antonio da Correggio (1489 – 1534)
14, Paolo Ucello (1397 – 1475)
No one paints horses (or dragons, or anything else) like Uccello.
15, Donatello (1386 – 1466)
One of only two sculptors in the bracket.
16, Masaccio (1401 – 1428)
Another artist who would have been higher had he lived longer. Sneaks in to grab the last seed.
On the bubble: Lucas Cranaach the Elder, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Giovanni Di Paolo
Percival Henry: The Fantastic Four and more 
So what’s the deal here? Being familiar with the art history portion of this exercise, I unsurprisingly have many opinions. But since I can barely recognize a football, I am at a loss as to how I should express my opinions. Do I vote somewhere? Bet money?
After I post all four brackets, I’ll post the match-ups. Then we’ll vote on who advances. We’ll winnow the field from 64 to 32 to 16 etc. I’m weighing to match up artists across eras, ie. a renaissance artist could face off against a modern artist, of whether to keep them in the same brackets. Thoughts?
In the meantime, feel free to chime in on my seedings. What did I get wrong?
I have to say I think you did pretty well with this bracket, in my opinion. Although I personally think that Tintoretto far surpasses Veronese, but others would disagree. It’s your Baroque bracket that gives me agida.
I think the Renaissance seeds are great. I wish that some earlier artists (Giotto, Duccio, Cimabue) would have been included. Starting with 1400 does eliminate the Italian Trecento so I suppose I can’t hold that against you. I’m looking forward to the rest of the seeds so that I can vote on the bracket. This will be a fun bracket and I’ll send it to some art historians friends that I know will appreciate it. I think that a Ren/Baroque artist should face off against a modern artist. There might be a real Cinderella story here. Bring on the Baroque!
Reblogged this on ByzBets and commented:
Another set of March Madness brackets, this time devoted to the greatest hits of Western art history! Too bad I totally missed it this year! And congrats to the winner Bernini. Check out the final bracket of competitors and winners:
http://betterbracketmaker.com/#!/c1f1e97137235